Chapter 317: Chapter 316: Meeting Ling Feng Again

The Profound Yellow Fruit had a mark left by the Snake Emperor, so she immediately sensed it had been stolen. A furious roar erupted from her as she transformed into her true form—a colossal python coiling in the sky, blotting out the scorching sun.

Having reverted to her true form, the Snake Emperor’s power surged. She was now actually overwhelming Elder Bai—a stark contrast to moments before, when she couldn’t gain the slightest advantage against him.

Down on the ground, as if sensing the Snake Emperor’s fury, the swarm of snakes besieging Shen Haoran went berserk. The dozen or so Tier Four venomous snakes ganged up, launching a coordinated assault that, for a moment, left even Shen Haoran struggling to keep up.

’Looks like Wanqing succeeded!’ With a horizontal sweep of the Black Flame Giant Ruler in his hand, Shen Haoran sliced all the ambushing snakes in two. Flames erupted from the wounds, instantly engulfing their bodies and burning them to ash.

"I’m done playing with you!" Shen Haoran snorted. The Fire Spirit Black Obsidian on his body flared violently, instantly transforming the oasis into a sea of black fire that enveloped all the surrounding snakes.

These venomous snakes were inherently cold in nature; how could they possibly withstand the terrifying heat of the Fire Spirit Black Obsidian? The weaker ones were incinerated in an instant, while the slightly stronger ones struggled in agony. Seizing the opportunity, Shen Haoran activated the Vermilion Bird Wings on his back, his body blurring into a series of afterimages as he vanished from the oasis.

High in the sky, Elder Bai sensed that Shen Haoran and Murong Wanqing’s auras were now distant. He glanced at the colossal python and sneered, "My mission is complete. Farewell!"

"Heaven-Tearing Hand!" With a sharp cry, a massive hand of Spiritual Power materialized and slapped down toward the Snake Emperor.

"HISS!" The Snake Emperor shrieked. With a flick of her enormous tail that generated a violent sonic boom, she met the giant Spiritual Power hand head-on. In the next instant, they collided thunderously.

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion rang out as a ferocious storm of Spiritual Power raged. The Snake Emperor’s massive tail was sent flying, and countless Snake Scales scattered into the air, flashing with a blinding light under the scorching sun.

"HISS!" The intense pain made the Snake Emperor cry out. By the time she came to her senses, Elder Bai’s figure had vanished completely.

"Find them! Find them for me, even if you have to turn the entire Desert Land upside down!" A moment later, a furious roar erupted from the sky, shaking the surrounding sand dunes so violently that countless streams of yellow sand cascaded down their sides.

Receiving the Snake Emperor’s command, the swarms of snakes in the oasis quickly burrowed into the ground and dispersed into the Desert Land. If they stayed, there was no telling if they would have to bear the wrath of their Empress.

"Hmph. Did you really think you could escape?" In the sky, the giant python transformed back into the half-human, half-snake Snake-man. She snorted, then closed her eyes to sense something carefully. After a long moment, her eyes snapped open. She glanced to the East, a cold smile on her lips, and her figure vanished on the spot.

Meanwhile, to the East of the oasis, Shen Haoran and Elder Bai had appeared at the designated meeting point.

"How did it go? Did you get it?" Shen Haoran asked Murong Wanqing.

"Mhm!" Murong Wanqing nodded joyfully and took out three wooden boxes carved from a Profound Yellow Tree. Nestled inside were three glittering, golden Profound Yellow Fruits.

Seeing the three brilliant Profound Yellow Fruits, Shen Haoran smiled in satisfaction, but his expression immediately darkened.

Seeing Shen Haoran’s sudden change in expression, Murong Wanqing was a bit surprised. "What’s wrong?" she asked.

"There’s something wrong with the Profound Yellow Fruit!" Shen Haoran took the three wooden boxes and began to examine them carefully.

Hearing Shen Haoran’s words, Murong Wanqing froze for a moment. She looked at the Profound Yellow Fruit, her fine brows knitting together, but after studying it for a long time, she couldn’t see anything wrong.

Shen Haoran stared at them for a long while before unleashing his powerful Spiritual Thought, sending it probing directly into the Profound Yellow Fruits. After a moment, a green, serpentine pattern materialized on the surface of one!

"This... This is..." Seeing the green, serpentine pattern, Murong Wanqing’s face went pale. ’The Snake Emperor’s mark is inside the Profound Yellow Fruit!’

Shen Haoran snorted. His powerful Spiritual Thought transformed into a Sharp Sword and directly erased the serpentine pattern. Although the Snake Emperor had reached the Spirit Emperor Level, she was a Spirit Beast, after all. How could her Spiritual Thought possibly compare to that of Shen Haoran, a Fifth Grade Alchemist? Erasing the mark took hardly any effort at all.

"Thank goodness you’re here, Cousin. Otherwise, we would have fallen right into the Snake Emperor’s trap!" Murong Wanqing said, patting her prominent chest in relief as she watched the green pattern disappear.

"Don’t celebrate too early. The Snake Emperor has likely already pinpointed our location. Let’s go! We can’t stay here," Shen Haoran said in a low voice after erasing the marks on all three Profound Yellow Fruits.

At his words, Murong Wanqing and Elder Bai nodded, and the three of them hurried onward.

A little over ten minutes after Shen Haoran’s group left, the space where they had been standing suddenly rippled, and the Snake Emperor’s figure appeared on the sand dune.

"Hm, so this is where they vanished. I can’t sense my mark anymore... It seems one of them is an Alchemist with powerful Spiritual Thought." A cold glint flashed in the Snake Emperor’s stunningly beautiful eyes.

"Hmph. No matter where you run, I will tear you to shreds!" the Snake Emperor spat. These people had destroyed her home and stolen the Profound Yellow Fruit she had so painstakingly nurtured. This was a debt that had to be repaid in blood!

With that, the Snake Emperor’s figure flashed and shot off in pursuit...

...

「Two days later.」

Time slipped by as they traveled through the desert. Two days had passed since Shen Haoran and the others had left the oasis. They were now approaching the edge of the desert’s interior. Another half a day’s journey and they would be out of this central region, after which the rest of the way would be much easier.

"Sigh... We’re finally getting out of here. I’ve gotten so tan in this place," Murong Wanqing grumbled, wiping the sweat from her forehead. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Shen Haoran glanced at her and chuckled, shaking his head. But suddenly, the smile vanished from his face, and his entire body tensed.

"Shh, someone’s coming!" Shen Haoran said in a low voice, quickly pulling Murong Wanqing and Elder Bai to hide behind a sand dune.

A moment later, a clamor of voices drifted over from a short distance away.

"Stop! Hand over your things, and maybe I’ll leave you an intact corpse!" a gruff voice boomed, followed by a roar of jeering.

"Hmph! If you want my things, come and take them! Even if I die today, I’m taking a few of you down with me!" a familiar voice replied, though it sounded weak.

Hearing that, Shen Haoran and Murong Wanqing looked at each other, both recognizing the owner of the voice.

"Ling Feng!" they exclaimed in unison.